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24th April 2008 - SHELTER’S MONTHLY MELA TAKES ON CAREER
FOCUS
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Come the 19th of each month and all roads lead to
Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala, for the two-day Monthly Mela.
The
aim of these Monthly Melas is to motivate the street children to give up their life
on the streets and get into a settled life. is done through awareness inputs, innovative
games and other entertaining activities. Medical facilities too are made available
to the children at every Mela.
The Monthly Mela organized on April 19-20 had an interesting difference –
a focus on career opportunities for vulnerable and marginalized youth. Other NGOs
working for street children in Mumbai were also invited to participate in this event.
During the Mela, speakers from different organizations made presentations on possible
careers that these children could work towards. The speakers included Mr. Khamkar
from Shramik Vidhyapeeth, Mr. Royal D’Souza from St. Joseph’s ITI Kurla,
and Ms. Rajana Jadhav from Project Ministry. These resource persons provided the
NGO staff and children with plenty of valuable information on different skills training
courses and related employment opportunities. The active participation of the children
during these sessions proved their keen interest in building a good career for themselves.
Ultimately, it is productive employment that will transform the ‘street children’
into ‘good citizens’.
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31st March 2008 - TENTH EUSARF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
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The Tenth Eusarf International Conference on "Assessing the evidence
base of intervention for vulnerable children and their families" was held on March
26-29, at Padova, Italy.
It
brought together 450 practitioners, researchers and policy makers from 30 different
countries, to share ideas and search for ways to improve the ability to respond
to the children's needs and protect their rights. The papers presented at the conference
examined the impact and effectiveness of social, socio-health and educational work
done with youth and families. The speakers concentrated on problem-solution relationship
in their research, making connections between these while presenting their findings.
Fr. Barnabe D'Souza of Shelter Don Bosco, Mumbai, presented a paper on "Children's
Vulnerablitiy, Insitutional Dependency and Reintegration: A Dialectical Cultural
Response". In it he focused on the challenges of institutionalization, its high
cost, dependency and service delivery limitations. In exploring alternate care systems,
the researched ‘evidence base’ of urban community projects by Shelter Don Bosco
in Mumbai, indicated the critical role of participation of all stakeholders. The
community care paradigm, for example, shifts the responsibility of child care and
education to the family and community rather than creating a dependency on the facilitating
agency. These measures are sustainable and promote a preventive ideology. This presentation
led to an animated discussion on the uniqueness of the Indian situation and the
strategies used to respond to the situation.
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15th March 2008 - SHELTER DON BOSCO AT “BEYOND 2008”
UNODC MEET
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"Beyond 2008” is an initiative of the Vienna NGO Committee to
contribute to the 1998-2008 review of the United Nations General Assembly Special
Session on Illicit Drugs (UNGASS). “Beyond 2008” is undertaken in partnership with
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It provides the Commission
on Narcotics Drugs (CND) and the UNODC the experience of the NGOs in achieving the
targets set by 1998 UNGASS and to offer proposals for the principles which would
govern future action and engagement of all stake holders in the development of drug
control measures and activities.
Launched in September 2007 this unique process has involved 9 regions from all
over the world, led by Regional Lead Organizations ( Shelter Don Bosco is one of
the RLOs) NGO representatives from 140 countries. During the assembly
held from March 10 to 14, 2008, at the Vienna International Centre, headquarters
of the UNODC, United Nations, Vienna, Austria, each RLO made a presentation. Fr.
Barnabe D’Souza made the presentation on behalf of the South Asia region and answered
questions thereafter from the delegates of the various regions of the world on the
situation of drugs and human rights issues in the South Asian region countries.
One of the points stressed in the presentation was the increased use of pharmaceutical
drugs, the keen interest in Afghanistan vis-à-vis the production of opium in the
region, other gateway drugs and human rights issues too were discussed. The similarity
in concerns and commonality of issues on the drug problem was highlighted.
This meeting was a follow up to the meeting of 40 NGOs consultation of the region
of South Asia, held from January 7 to 9, 2008 at Dhaka, Bangladesh. The above two
meetings are a preparation to the high level Summit ‘Beyond 2008’ to be held in
Vienna in July 2008. The deliberations of this summit will be forwarded to the CND
for deliberations in the 2009 Drug policy formulation of the UNODC.
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19th February 2008 - SHELTER CELEBRATES ANNUAL DAY
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Shelter Don Bosco celebrated its Annual Day on Saturday, February
16.
The
day began with the celebration of Holy Mass for those boys who wished to attend.
Then, at 9.30 am over 500 children from all the 15 projects managed by Shelter partook
in the variety entertainment programme comprising skits, songs and dances. Midday
saw the entire Shelter family enjoying lunch together, cooked by the boys themselves.
At 6.00 pm the Shelter boys staged a cultural programme at St. Joseph’s High School
Auditorium, Wadala. Rev. Fr. Michael Fernandes, Provincial, was the Chief Guest.
Also present for the programme were several Salesians, Sisters, collaborators, well-wishers,
benefactors and friends. Fr. Lloyd Rodrigues, Director, welcomed the gathering and
explained to them the role of Shelter in the life of the street children. This was
followed by the reading of the Annual Report which highlighted the many activities
and achievements of Shelter, especially its efforts towards reintegrating the boys
into society. Fr. Michael Fernandes, in his speech, applauded the great commitment
of the staff and the Salesians, and exhorted the children to use the opportunity
they were getting to become good citizens with a bright future. The boys then enthralled
the audience with their excellent performances. What made the show even more delightful
was that the Salesians and the staff took to the stage, acting and dancing with
the boys! The programme ended with the vote of thanks by proposed by Fr. Barnabe
D’Souza.
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15th January 2008 - Shelter Don Bosco at UN Consultation
on Drug Policy
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Shelter Don Bosco, Mumbai, India and two other NGOs were nominated
as Regional Lead Organization (RLOs) for the UN Regional Consultation from the South
Asian Region for the “Beyond 2008 World Drug Forum” held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on
January 8-9, 2008. The aim of this consultation was to gather views and experiences
of NGOs working in the field of Drug abuse in the South Asian Region and provide
regional inputs to the “Beyond 2008 World Drug Forum” – a planned review and reflection
on achievement since the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS),
which encourages NGOs to contribute their own perspectives to global drug policy
and international initiatives. Fr. Barnabe D’souza sdb and Ms. Novella Corda, as
one of the main organizers of the event, facilitated discussions on the emerging
drug trends in the region, NGO involvement and future drug policy measures from
a regional perspective. 40 reputed NGOs with vast experience and expertise from
different counties of South Asia such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Maldives, Nepal and India participated in the consultation at Dhaka.
The Vienna NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs (VNGOC) that provides a vital link between
NGOs, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and UNODC, nominated
Shelter Don Bosco, Mumbai, India along with two other NGOs from the region as Regional
Lead Organization (RLOs) for South Asia. The three organizations were selected based
on their significant presence and vast experience in the region. The RLOs were assigned
the task of coordinating the Consultation for the South Asian region. In addition,
Shelter Don Bosco was responsible for selecting and inviting representatives
among the 100 plus Asian NGOs for the consultation meeting at Dhaka.
The South Asian regional Consultation was part of a series of nine regional consultations
being held in nine regions of the world, namely, Australia and New Zealand; Eastern
Europe and Central Asia; the European Union and the European Free Trade Association;
Latin America and the Caribbean; North Africa and the Middle East; North America;
South Asia; Southeast and East Asia; and the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. Each
regional consultation is intended to elicit experience and ideas from NGOs active
in the respective regions which will be collated and presented in Vienna in July
2008. The unified NGO contribution to the UNGASS review will be submitted to the
CND and UNODC to aid examination of progress in meeting the targets set in 1998,
to develop more effective partnerships for the future and to propose high order
principles as a guide for future deliberations on drug control. These regional consultations
help in fostering NGO collaborations within the region and help develop new and
improved arrangements for engaging civil society in the planning of future policies,
strategies and practice in response to drug related problems.
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